Extending an Edwardian cottage in a conservation area called for careful planning and a collaborative approach
WORDS CAROLINE RODRIGUES PHOTOGRAPHY RICHARD CHIVERS
Slim facing bricks by Gima lend texture to the scheme
Genevieve and Matt Webster are no strangers to building projects. Having gutted and restored a flat and a house in the past, they were looking for another opportunity when they saw a promising four-storey Victorian villa with a basement for sale.
With scope for a rear extension, the house backs onto a park and is close to schools. ‘When we’re searching for a property, its looks are almost irrelevant,’ says Genevieve. ‘The floorplan and location are most important. Matt is project director for a commercial construction company and has an eye for transforming a space. Also, our son, eight, and daughter, four, are settled at a local school.’
Genevieve, 40, who runs her own TV production company, and Matt, 41, spent a year living in the house, getting to know its quirks while formulating their ideas. Due to the views of trees and greenery from every vantage point, front and back, the couple felt that the renovation should enhance their home’s outlook and make the spaces open plan. Genevieve already knew architects Irene Astrain and Peter Scheldt and invited them over. ‘It was magical seeing their initial design,’ says Genevieve. ‘It’s everything that we were trying to get to, but probably didn’t have the design language to explain.’
The new layout sees the conservatory at the back of the house replaced with a single-storey extension that includes aluminium-frame glazing and a green sedum roof. ‘The conservatory was hot in summer and cold in winter and the high, out-of-reach glass roof collected cobwebs and dust,’ says Genevieve.
Reconfiguring the rest of the house gave the family four bedrooms, a study with a corner window overlooking the garden and a basement cinema. The already-converted loft space had been finished to a high standard, but its bathroom became a wet room.
To ease things along, Irene and Peter went through the pre-planning process before submitting the full planning application. Their biggest challenge was getting the contemporary frameless glazing for the first-floor study approved within the conservation area, but in the end Hackney Council agreed. ‘Most of our neighbours have also been through large-scale re
